The present invention relates generally to electronic displays, and more particularly to the customization of an original display by physical alteration of the size and/or shape thereof, such that the customized display may be used in installations not considered achievable with the original display.
In this application, COTS is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cCommercial Off-The-Shelfxe2x80x9d; FPD is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cFlat-Panel Displayxe2x80x9d; LCD is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cLiquid Crystal Displayxe2x80x9d; PDLC is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cTolymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystalxe2x80x9d, AMLCD is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cActive Matrix Liquid Crystal Displayxe2x80x9d; TAB is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cTape-Automated-Bondingxe2x80x9d; COG is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cChip-On-Glassxe2x80x9d; UV is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cultravioletxe2x80x9d, VLSI is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cVery Large Scale Integrationxe2x80x9d, and HDTV is used as an acronym for xe2x80x9cHigh-Definition Televisionxe2x80x9d. All of these terms are well-known in the art.
Electronic displays are commonly used to portray data in the forms of visual text and/or other images, so the data may be interpreted and/or acted upon. Typically, the operator of equipment associated with the display will control the equipment based in part on the interpretation of the data displayed. A simple example is an airplane pilot who views a control panel display representing surrounding air traffic, and who then controls the airplane to avoid the traffic.
The displays and their associated bezels (face plates) and frames (interfacing and supporting hardware) are typically built to demanding specifications for durability, reliability, and operating life, due to industry requirements, and the resulting displays have relatively complex electrical, chemical, optical, and physical characteristics. Each particular application, for example, may require specific performance characteristics from the display, such as the ability to accommodate or withstand varying conditions of temperature, humidity, radiation, ambient light, shock, vibration, impact, chemicals, salt spray, water and fluid condensation, immersion, or other environmental, electrical, physical, and/or other conditions. Due to the high costs associated with such varying and demanding specifications, for any particular application it is thus economically necessary for manufacturers to produce a common design in high production volume, resulting in COTS displays all having substantially the same characteristics for a variety of physical sizes. The sizes vary, but the shapes are generally rectangular until and shapes. The sizes vary, but the shapes are generally rectangular with an aspect ratio of approximately three to four. Common television and computer displays typically have an aspect ratio of approximately three to four, and are typically square. HDTV displays typically have an aspect ratio of nine to sixteen.
For specialized applications where the market may not be large enough for COTS manufacturers to enter, buyers of displays are required to have displays custom-built to fit their size and shape requirements, at a cost up to ten times greater than the cost of a COTS display having identical functionality. Alternatively, buyers may choose to incorporate a COTS display into an existing control panel or dashboard opening by physically altering the size and/or shape of the control panel opening to match the size and/or shape of the COTS display. For most applications, however, such modifications cannot be made without disturbing the surrounding instruments, controls, and displays already incorporated into the control panel. Such is the case, for example, on an airplane control panel or other vehicle control panel where large numbers of instruments and controls are tightly and efficiently packed into a relatively small area to begin with. And even if the appropriate modifications could be made, they are typically cost-prohibitive.
To overcome the above-referenced drawbacks in the prior art, it would thus be desirable to provide systems and methods for customizing a COTS display to meet the size and shape requirements of a target control panel opening, such that the purchaser of the COTS display may avoid paying the extra costs associated with having a display custom-built from scratch. Such systems and methods would be advantageous for displays that have relatively high tooling costs and relatively low volume production associated therewith.
A particular industry where high-cost custom-built displays are used is the avionics industry, which traditionally used square panel openings to house mechanical control devices. To retrofit airplane control panels with electronic displays, the industry began manufacturing square displays, at a relatively high cost and relatively low volume compared to the COTS non-square displays which are commercially used in a wide variety of applications. In fact, the control panels in newly-built airplanes designed to use electronic displays, are still often made with square panel openings, despite the COTS displays being non-square, in order to maintain the well-established and familiar control panel configurations.
Since a completed electronic display is delicate and relatively complex, most experts in the filed would not expect that customization of the displays as desired could be accomplished by physically cutting an original display, changing its size and/or shape, and resealing it, while maintaining its same basic functionality. For example, most experts would not expect that a display designed to be a four-inch by six-inch display with 480 rows by 640 columns of picture elements (pixels) could be cut down to the size of a four-inch by four-inch display with 480 rows by 480 columns, and still operate successfully.
Typically, a COTS display comprises two plates, front and back, holding drive electronics on the edges. The plates are typically glass or plastic, and may have polarizers, filters, image enhancement films, and/or viewing angle enhancement films attached thereto. Row and column orthogonal electric leads distributed throughout an image-generating medium are contained between the plates, and a perimeter seal holds the plates together while isolating and protecting the image-generating medium from the outside environment. The row and column electric leads transcend the seal to external leads to which electronic drivers are attached. The electronic drivers are typically VLSI circuits bonded to TAB substrates attached to the display, or directly attached to the display as COG. In some instances the VLSI electronic drivers are made in-situ with the display picture elements.
The present invention involves systems and methods for customizing a COTS display by modifying the physical size and/or shape of the COTS display to meet the requirements of a target application. This is accomplished by cutting the physical COTS display to reduce its physical size and/or shape, and then resealing the display to achieve the desired performance. The basic functionality of the COTS display remains intact. That is, the customized display will have a new size and/or shape, and may have altered electronic drivers, image-generating media, rearranged electronics, additional seals, additional films, etc., and may actually have enhanced functionality. However, the customized display will be able to operate in a target application designed to interface with a display of the same type (e.g., AMLCD) as the original (e.g., COTS) display.
When the plates are cut, internal electronics might also be cut, often requiring reestablishment of electrical continuity. Similarly, the display electronics may be removed, reattached, or otherwise modified, and filters, polarizers, and/or other films associated with the display and typically attached externally to the plates may be cut, to conform to the customized display size and/or shape. Thus the opportunity exists to add enhanced functionality to the display. A custom bezel and frame may then be used to house the display, allowing for additional ruggedization of the entire unit.
To reseal the display, an adhesive is applied along at least the cut edge or edges. A second seal may be added to minimize the penetration of humidity and other contaminants into the display media (e.g., liquid crystal material) inside the display cell. A third seal serving as a mask may also be applied to prevent back light typically used with LCDs from passing through the display around the outer edges of the display image area.
Electronic drivers, typically VLSI circuits (bonded to TAB substrates attached to the display, or attached directly to the display as COG) may be added, repositioned and/or reattached as needed, and the circuitry on the display plates may be altered to make electrical connection to the new VLSI circuits. Filters, films, polarizers, etc., may then be cut and/or installed as desired, and additional components such as heaters, optical elements, infrared filters, touch panels, transducers, etc., may be added to alter and/or enhance durability or functionality of the display.
Finally, the reshaped and/or resized, and/or otherwise altered display is placed in a custom bezel and frame with appropriate ruggedization characteristics. The bezel and frame are designed to accommodate the newly sized and/or shaped display in a suitable manner, and to allow for proper mechanical and electrical attachment to the target location, such as an avionics box or display panel. The bezel and frame also are configured for installation such that appropriate lighting, optical elements, transducers, heaters, infrared filters, touch panels, etc., associated with the target application operate properly. The frame thus protects the display and interfaces the display with the target location, such as an avionics box or display panel. Suitable adhesives, sealants, conformal coatings, potting compounds, electrical and thermal conductors, screws, clamps, rivets, connectors, gaskets, etc., may be used as necessary or desired to further ruggedize the unit and install it into its target location. Ruggedization may be required, for example, before installing the customized unit into environments of vehicles, ships, submersibles, missiles, aircraft, spacecraft, portable equipment, etc., which tend to be more restrictive and severe than the environments for which COTS displays are designed. Similarly, simulators for situations such as those described above may also require ruggedization of the customized unit.
One aspect of the present invention thus involves customizing an electronic display by cutting the display along desired dimensions resulting in a target display portion and an excess display portion, and applying a first seal between the plates along an exposed edge of the target display portion, said first seal creating a barrier to prevent the image-generating medium from escaping out of the area between the plates, wherein the basic functionality of the display remains intact. A second seal and/or a third seal may be added.
Another aspect involves customizing an electronic display by cutting the display along desired dimensions resulting in a target display portion and an excess display portion, applying a first seal along an exposed edge of the target display portion between the plates, applying a second seal over the first seal, and applying a third seal over the second seal, wherein the basic functionality of the display remains intact.
Another aspect of the present invention involves creating a customized electronic display comprising a substantially flat front plate having an upper surface and a lower surface, a substantially flat back plate having an upper surface and a lower surface, said back plate positioned behind said front plate and substantially parallel thereto, a perimeter seal positioned between said plates and forming an enclosed cell area defined by the lower surface of the front plate, the upper surface of the back plate, and the perimeter seal, an image-generating medium contained within said cell area, electrical conductors distributed throughout said image-generating medium, a substantially flat first polarizer attached to the upper surface of said front plate, said first polarizer having a perimeter, a second seal positioned over the perimeter seal, and a first silicone bead positioned over the perimeter of the first polarizer. A third seal may be added.
Systems and methods are thus described for customizing an original (e.g. COTS AMLCD) display to meet the size and/or shape requirements of a target location. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description which follows, when read in conjunction with the associated drawings.